Steward William Maurice Fisher
RSL (Port Pirie Sub Branch) Inc.William (Bill) Maurice Fisher was born on the 19th July 1920 in Port Pirie, South Australia, to Charles William John and Florence Isabella Fisher, nee Greenhill.
He was the eldest of three sons that served in the 2nd Australian Infantry Force (AIF) during the Second World War. Ray served with the 2nd /27th Battalion and Ron served with the 2nd /16th Battalion.
William grew up at 41 Simpson Street, Solomontown, Port Pirie and was schooled at Port Pirie Public School. He was employed in a newspaper delivery business and was a speedy runner who played a fast and clean game for the Solomontown Football Club before the war.
William initially joined the 9th /23rd Light horse Regiment as a Signaller on the 8th May 1941, transferring over to the Royal Australian Navy Reserve (RANR) to become a Steward on the 16th February 1942. His Service Numbers were S8045 and PA2609 respectively.
William saw service on shore establishments Torrens, Cerberus and Melville and sea time on HMAS Warrawee, Lachlan and Whang Pu all of which served in New Guinea waters, Borneo and later at Morotai Island in the Dutch East Indies.
William accidentally drowned, on the 20th June 1945, aged 24 years.
“Details concerning the accidental death at Morotai on June 20th reveal that about 2000 hours he was leaving his ship on his way to a reunion with his brothers Ray and Ron of the AIF when he fell overboard. In falling he struck his head and was deemed to be unconscious when he hit the water. One of his officers dived to his assistance but failed to reach him, owing to the strength of the tide.” ...The Recorder, Port Pirie, SA; Wednesday 18 July 1945
It was many years before the family learned the full story of what happened to William, despite their repeated inquiries all they ever received from authorities was, ‘William Fisher died as a result of an accident at sea'.
It was not until four days later that William’s body was recovered and he was buried on Morotai Island with naval honours in a makeshift grave with a temporary wooden cross inscribed with his name and serial number. Later, his body of was transferred to the Commonwealth War Cemetery at Ambon, Maluku, Indonesia.
William is also commemorated on the Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Canberra, Adelaide World War 2 Wall of Remembrance, the City of Port Pirie World War Memorial Gates, Port Pirie Navy Memorial, Port Pirie Garden of Memory Cemetery and the Willunga War Memorial.
William had married Yvonne Joyce Ward from Willunga, South Australia, who raised their only son Peter, whom sadly, William never got to meet.
Lest We Forget
- Trove Australia https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/96173288
